Mer
by delphinus2
Summary: I'm posting this here because it started out as a YJ fic, but it turned into one mostly about the BatFam. It's about an OC girl who starts out as a member of the team before getting mixed up with the Bats. (OC/Robin) Way AU. This is my way of tying up loose ends and making the characters lives relatively easier. Relatively. Maybe. Or not. Just read.
1. And So It Begins

_**AN: Okay, so I started this a while ago, and it gets off to a really rocky start. It gets better somewhere later on, but this chapter is not by any means some of my better work. Neither is the next one. The one after that is some better. If someone is OOC, please let me know so that I can fix it.**_

_**Disclaimer: Not mine. I would not write fan fiction if owned any of these characters other than Ruby.**_

"Aw, come on, Ruby," Robin pleaded. "It'll be fun."

"No!" she snapped. "For the last time, I am not going swimming!"

The three of them, Ruby, Robin, and Kid Flash, were alone in the mountain for the day and Robin and KF had decided to swim. Ruby refused to join in. Just like she always had. In the thirteen months they'd known her she had never once swam with them.

"Aw, come on," Kid Flash pleaded. "You can stay in the shallow end."

"No," she told him.

Robin shrugged. "Suit yourself."

But Kid Flash ran past and picked her up from the couch, carrying her towards the pool.

_"No,"_ she thought. _"Please, no. If he dumps me in the pool, I'm going to lose my home and family. My friends. My team. Granted, those are all the same thing, but still!"_ "Kid Flash if you don't put me down right now I swear I will break you. Permanently."

Wally blinked at her utterly hostile tone, but they were at the edge of the pool anyway, so... "Have it your way."  
He dropped her into the pool. She screamed. Not in surprise like he wanted, but in pain and fear. She thrashed as red mist, it looked like blood, gathered in the water around her. Then she went limp and sank to the bottom of the pool.

Wally looked on in horror. Robin came dashing into the room. "What did you DO?"

"I don't know what happened!" Wally yelled back, panicked. "I just dumped her in the pool. How was I supposed to know she would react like that?!" He leaned over the edge of the pool and tried to spot her. What he saw made him recoil in shock before doing a double take. "Dude, you have to come see this."

"Wally," Robin scolded, "You know as well as I do that Ruby can't swim! What were you thinking? Were you thinking?!"

"Dude, seriously, just get over here and look at this."

Robin went over to the edge of the pool and stopped short. "What on Earth?"

Floating on her back just beneath the surface in the middle of the pool was Ruby. But she wasn't... Her. This Ruby had dark red hair and a more refined face. This Ruby also had a tail that was, appropriately, clad in gem-like red scales.

Her eyes fluttered open and landed on the boys. Robin could have sworn that she sighed. Then she swam over and broke the surface. "Now do you see why I didn't want to go swimming?" Her tone was harsh, implying anger, but her eyes told a different story. They were filled with pain, and fear, and sadness.

"You... You're a..." Wally stammered.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Wallace, I'm a mermaid. Deal with it."

Robin broke into a grin. "This is totally asterous."

She looked up at him, confused. "I kinda figured that this was the part where you guys would panic and trap me in a fish tank, or something like that."

"Are you kidding?" Robin asked. "This is awesome!"

She laughed, clear and bell-like. "Glad someone thinks so. Really, it's nothing more than a lot of hassle. But I'm glad you think it's cool." She looked down at her tail. "I suppose since you've seen me like this I can give you my name and title. I am Regalia, third circle princess of Solaria, gem of the court, and niece of the great Queen Alahma. Hi, it's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand.

Robin shook it without thinking, then yelped when he got an electric shock. He nearly tumbled into the pool. Wally caught him. "Are you okay?"

Ruby, Regalia, retracted her hand and stared at the mark now on her palm. "Oh no. Robin, show me your hand."


	2. Only Getting Started

He had been staring at his hand in, pardon the pun, shock, but he obediently turned it her way when she asked.  
She grabbed it and stared at the mark before flipping, literally, backwards into the deeper part of the pool. "Oh please, no. This shouldn't be happening. I am not supposed to be this attached to a surface dweller. My grandmother is going to kill me!"

Wally looked back and forth between Regalia and Robin. "Ummm... Would someone mind telling me what's going on here?"

Regalia sighed. "Look, the mark... Wasn't supposed to happen. It's supposed to bind me to the person I would die for, which, in Solaria, is another way of saying my soul mate. Being royalty, albeit low ranking royalty, my soul mate was found when I was little and I'm supposed to be with them forever. Cheesy, I know. Surface dweller royalty has a similar custom called arranged marriage. It stinks, but that's life. Anyway, the mark is some seriously powerful sorcery. We're talking the kind of magic that Doctor Fate himself can't even come close to working. It binds me to him. I can't be away from the person who shares my mark for more than a week or we both get sick and die. I am so so SO sorry about this. I don't get to choose who gets my mark." She was rambling.

Wally jumped into the pool and swam out to her to calm her down. Robin started to follow, but she let out a panicked "Don't!" and he stopped.

"The Lecaglan Mark, just the mark for short, was made by a sorcerer thousands of years ago when a mer fell in love with a surface dweller. Terribly, cliche, I know. I believe that's what the story 'The Little Mermaid' is based off of. This sorcerer, his name is long forgotten, forged the mark to allow the two to cross over into each other's worlds. Meaning that if you come in the water there's a good chance you'll get a tail. And believe me, it hurts way too much to be worth it."

Robin was, if you'll pardon the pun, a bit out of his depth. But Ruby, his friend, was panicking and he was the only one who knew how to calm her down. That was far more important than any amount of possible pain. So he jumped in. And immediately regretted it. His legs felt like they were on fire. He would have screamed, but he was gulping water at this point. His lungs were full of the stuff. He felt Ruby's arms encircle his waist. She hugged him and he clung to her with all his might.

"Shhh," she soothed. "It'll be over soon, I promise. Just hang in there, Robin. I promise you it will be okay. Hush, little bird. Look at me. That's right. Look at me and don't look away."

The pain subsided and he loosened his grip just a little.

"There, you see? That wasn't so bad. The first time is always the worst."

He nodded.

Wally swam over and dragged them both to the surface. "Robin, dude, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay. Aw man, Batman is gonna kill me."

Robin managed a weak chuckle. "I'm fine. Just need to catch my breath."

Ruby supported him as best she could. "This is my fault. All of it. If only I hadn't been stupid enough to shake your hand."

Wally put an arm around Robin to help keep his head above water. "It's okay. You didn't know this would happen. I mean, it isn't like you planned this."

She ran a hand through her wet hair. "No, I didn't. And I'm going to have to live with it. My question is: Are you going to be able to live with this, Robin?"

Robin shrugged and coughed weakly. "I'll be fine, I suppose. I can deal. Batman is going to be so mad, though. I can't keep something this big a secret from him, so what do I do?"

Ruby and Wally towed him over to the edge of the pool and heaved him up onto it. "For now," Ruby told him, "What we're going to do is get you dried off and changed back. I don't think you want the team seeing you like this just yet."

Robin shook his head.

Ruby pulled herself up out of the water and hissed as her tail melted back into legs then she walked over to a stack of towels and grabbed two. She held on to one and tossed the other to Wally. "Help me dry him off. Robin, you're going to feel really bad for a couple minutes, but I need you to stay calm, okay?"

Robin nodded. Wally and Ruby gently rubbed the towels over his tail until it was completely dry. Then they watched as it changed back into legs.

Ruby sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I wasn't sure if that would work. But it looks like since I can change back and forth you can too. I know this probably doesn't help, but I like your tail. Silver is a good color on you."

Wally picked up his best friend. "Help me carry him to the sickbay. And keep him awake. I don't want him going into shock."

Ruby complied and started talking about anything and everything she could think of. Her life in Solaria, the mark, the team, how they were going to tell Batman. Everything. She didn't stop until they got him to the infirmary and he fell into an exhausted slumber.

When that happened, Ruby left the room and went back to sit on the edge of the pool. Wally stayed for a while before going after her.


	3. Downhill From There

He found her and sat down beside her. "Hey. Are you okay?"

"Great, just great. One of my closest friends is in pain and could have died thanks to a stupid slip up on my part. My other friends are going to hate me when they find out about all this. I will tell them, though. I'm sick of keeping this a secret. Batman already knew about me, but what are we going to tell him about Robin? I'm not okay, Wally, I'm panicking."

"We'll figure it out," Wally assured her. "We have been in worse messes. It's not like we have to explain to the entire Justice League how we managed to trash D.C. looking for one low powered villain."

She smiled at the memory. "Okay, that was bad. But still. How are we going to explain this to Batman?"

Wally scratched his head. "No idea. But we'll figure something out."

They were interrupted by unexpected arrival of Kaldur'on. In seconds he had swords in his hands and was pointing them at Ruby. "Who are you? Where is Robin? If you have hurt my friends, I swear-"

Wally stood and walked over to him. "Dude, chill. It's Ruby. I know she looks different, but it really is her."

She turned to face him and he paled. "Regalia? Princess, what are you doing here?"

She changed back and walked over to Wally. "I'm rebelling. The same thing I always do."

Kaldur's eyes flicked down to her hand. "The mark. Wally?"

Wally and Ruby looked at each other. "Uh, no."

Kaldur looked confused for a moment. Then it dawned on him. "Robin."

She nodded miserably. "I never meant for this to happen. But then Robin jumped in the pool and things just got worse."

Wally looked upset. "It's my fault. All of it. I dumped her in the pool. If I had just listened when Ruby said she didn't want to go swimming-"

"Enough, both of you." Kaldur's voice was firm and commanding. "What's done is done. Blaming yourselves for what happened solves nothing. Where is Robin now?"

Ruby walked toward the door. "He's in the sickbay, asleep. Follow me."

They were walking through the main command room when the zeta beam computers spoke up. "Recognized: Batman 02"

Ruby groaned. Could this day get any worse? Apparently the answer to that was yes.

Batman stalked over to them. "Where's Robin?" he growled.

Ruby held up her marked hand. "Hold. He is safe. Robin is sleeping in the infirmary, and if I allow you to see him it will be because you promise not to overly excite him. The poor boy is exhausted and he does not need you getting him worked up. This has been a hard enough day already."

He glared at her but she held her ground. "Fine," he spat. "Now take me to him." He nodded at the mark on her hand. "You can explain on the way."

Her explanation was short, to the point, and finished by the time they got to the sickbay. Batman sat down in the chair next to Robin's bed. Gently, he shook his protege's shoulder.

Robin turned his head and opened his eyes. "Hey, Batman. What are you doing here?"

His slow speech and tired eyes scared Batman, but Batman forced himself to remain calm. "You weren't answering your communicator, so I came to check on you. How're you feeling?"

"Sore. Tired. But I'll live."

"Ruby told me what happened. Are you going to be okay?"

Robin's eyes widened. "Please don't be mad! I'm fine. She didn't know this would happen," he babbled. "She warned me against jumping in, and- I understand if you don't want me around anymore." He drooped; his energy spent.

"I'm not mad. Not really. It was an accident. A preventable accident," he glared at Wally, "But still an accident. Robin, look at me. You are my son. I will always want you around. No matter what happens."

Robin reached up and hugged his mentor. Batman froze for a second and then hugged him back. Ruby and Aqualad looked at the two of them and then at each other and left the room. Wally followed.

Batman came into the main room about ten minutes later. "Robin is asleep. Ruby, are you sure he's going to be okay? He seemed so weak."

"He will be just fine. Given a couple days of rest Robin will be back on his feet in no time. So long as you continue to be the father and mentor that you have been to him for so many years. He needs you. Don't walk away from him."

Batman shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it. He's my son. I care about him far too much to ever do that."

Wally and Kaldur'on were keeping a safe distance from Batman. They knew he wasn't nearly as okay with all this as he acted. So when Ruby shooed them out of the room they went gladly.

Ruby turned back to Batman. "He's scared. I'm scared. What am I supposed to do? This wasn't supposed to happen for at least another two years! My grandmother will have my head on a platter for bonding to a surface dweller. I'm heir to the throne. This sort of thing just doesn't happen!"

"Ruby. Ruby! Calm down." Batman's harsh voice cut through her fog of fear and she took a deep breath. "Look at this situation the way you would look at a mission. Figure out what your options are and find the one that doesn't end in someone dying."

"Right. Calm. Thanks."

Batman walked over to the zeta beams and gave her one last instruction. "Keep him safe." Then the computer spoke and he was gone.


	4. Team Meeting

"He's gone. You can come back in, guys."

Wally and Kaldur reentered the room. "What are we going to tell the team?" Wally asked.

The computerized voice announced the arrival of Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis.

"The universe just hates me today," Ruby muttered. She looked at the boys. "You two get to tell them. I'm going to go check on Robin."

"Tell them what?!" Wally asked.

"The truth."

Wally turned back around and saw Artemis standing there, arms crossed, tapping her foot.  
"The truth about what, Wally? And why does Robin need checking on?"

He laughed nervously. "Well, it's kind of my fault..."

Ruby heard Artemis from the hallway. She was exceedingly glad that Wally and Kaldur were handling it. In this situation she was more scared of the team than she was of Batman. A single angry adult she could handle. But three angry teenagers? Two of which had superpowers? There was just no way that would end well.  
She sat down in the chair that Batman had recently vacated and waited for the team to come find her.  
As it turned out, they didn't have to.

"How dare you hurt him?!" M'gann's mental scream of rage made Ruby wince and cover her ears. Robin stirred on the bed.

"M'gann," Ruby growled, "Either cut Robin out of the link right now or shut up!"

"Why should I?"

"Because he's sleeping! Or he was, until you started shouting in our heads. I think you made my ears bleed."

There was a pause and Robin's half awake thoughts vanished from their minds. Since the shouting had stopped he drifted back to sleep.

"Thank you, Megan. The more sleep he gets the sooner he'll be back to full strength."

"You're welcome. But why did you hurt him?"

"Oh M'gann. I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't want this. It kills me to see him in pain like this. Especially since I know exactly how it feels. I had now way of knowing this would exactly would you have wanted me to do? Never let anyone touch me? I can't live like that. Could you?"

"Well... No."

"The marking is only supposed to happen with one... Particular person. I didn't think that person could be Robin."

"She is right, M'gann." Aqualad's voice cut in. "Even I did not consider it a possibility."

Superboy was shocked. "You mean you knew about all this? And you didn't tell us?"

"He's an Atlantean," Ruby told them. "Solaria is a sister country to Atlantis and the two nations have always been on good terms with each other. I felt safe telling him who I am. And I absolutely refused to let him tell anyone else. Batman knew as well, but he's the only surface dweller I told. I didn't even tell Kaldur's mentor."

"You didn't tell me everything," Aqualad reminded her. "I was informed that you were just another member of the court. Not that you're _the_ Princess Regalia."

"It's not exactly something I like to advertise. Not when I can help it. I have enough problems without letting people know that I'm the rebel princess. Besides, I never did like court."

Artemis sighed over the link. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"For the same reasons you didn't tell me about being Sportsmaster's daughter until you had to. I was scared. Scared of what you would say and do if you found out. Scared I would lose my home. Scared you wouldn't want me as a friend anymore."

"We will always want to be your friends." Kaldur's voice was reassuring. "And you will always be ours."

"Yeah, Rubes," Wally told her, "You heard Robin earlier. This whole mermaid thing is totally awesome."

Artemis asked the question on everyone's minds. "Can we see him?"

Ruby hesitated. "Not right now. You might wake him. Later, I promise. In the meantime... Maybe I could show you my tail?"

"We would be honored," said M'gann.


	5. Friends

So Ruby found herself bouncing on her toes on the edge of the diving board. She bounced once more then sprung high up into the air, doing a flip before straightening out into a perfect dive. She broke the surface without so much as a ripple, but her body stiffened the second she was totally immersed. The red mist gathered around her, then she shot out of the water as a different person. Her red hair streaming behind her, Ruby crashed back down. Landing with a splash that drenched her teammates.

"Show off," Kaldur muttered.

Everybody else just gaped.

"Hey, Kaldur," Ruby called. "I dare you to do better."

He grinned. "You know I will win."

She shrugged. "I just want to see you do your trick again."

They had spent a couple of hours swimming around and attempting to out-do each other's tricks when Ruby swam over to M'gann and asked her to link her up with Robin.

"He's awake," Ruby murmured. "I have to go." She pulled herself up out of the pool and waited for the change. She didn't make a sound, but M'gann saw sweat beading on her face. Then she stood up and dashed back to the infirmary, Miss Martian right on her tail.

Robin relaxed visibly when Ruby entered the room. "Where were you?"

She smiled at him. "I was swimming with the team. We didn't want to wake you up, so I decided to go show them my tail. To make up for keeping them out of here while you slept."

He nodded. "Will you help me up?"

She hesitated, a frown on her face. "I'm not sure you should be out of bed yet..." He gave her puppy dog eyes and she sighed. "Fine. On one condition: You start getting tired and you go right back to bed."

He agreed reluctantly and Ruby helped him stand up. M'gann came over and assisted them.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

He gave her a forced smile. "I'm good. Really. Just need..." he hissed in pain as he took a step. "Just need to work out some of the soreness."

"Why don't we watch a movie?" Ruby suggested. "Megan, do you mind telling the others where we're going to be?"

"Done."

Robin looked over at her. "What movie are we watching?"

"What movie do you want to watch?" Ruby replied.

Robin grinned. "Lord of the Rings."


	6. And Enemies

_**AN: Lines show what is simulation and what is real life. Inspired by Failsafe.**_

A couple of days later Robin was walking around on his own. He ws still a little stiff, but most of the pain was gone. Ruby had started swimming quite a bit now that the entire team knew her secret.

Batman called the cave to alert Ruby that Black Canary was coming to give them some sort of mental check up. He asked if she wanted her to know and she said yes, but that permission was to be required if either of them wanted to tell anyone else.

And that is how Ruby ended up stuck in a room alone with Black Canary who was trying to convince her to talk about her feelings.

Ruby sighed. "You seem to think that keeping a secret has left me mentally scared, and yet you and the rest of the Justice Leaguers keep secrets all the time. So why aren't they stuck in some sort of stupid counseling program? At the very least Artemis, M'gann, and Robin should be in here with me. They all kept their identities a secret for a while. Robin still won't tell anyone his. Your logic is flawed and I'm not going to tell you anything."

Black Canary shook her head in frustration. "Why do you hate me so much, Regalia?"

Ruby looked furious. "My name. Is. Ruby! Don't you ever dare call me that- that name- again!" she spat.

"You're avoiding the question, Ruby."

"I warned you that I wasn't going to tell you anything. If you're so smart can't you figure it out yourself?"

Black Canary opened her mouth to snap back, but closed it quickly and looked thoughtful. "I have an idea... What would you say to participating in a training simulation?"

Ruby blinked at the sudden, off-topic question, but considered it anyways. "Sounds good."

* * *

That morning started out normally. Ruby woke up and had breakfast. Megan and Superboy got up and ate with her. Then they got a call from Batman. He sent them to a country called Delomnis to investigate a strange energy spike.

The ride there was silent after assignments were given out. Ruby was to be working with Robin and Artemis.

They got to the lab they were supposed to investigate and split up into their two teams. Aqualad's team took the upper stories and Robin's took the basement.

At first they all stayed in constant telepathic contact. Then Ruby heard Superboy shout Megan's name and the link went dead. When she tried to contact Aqualad and Superboy using regular coms all she got was static.

"This is not good," she muttered.

And it only went south from there. They had found the room that the energy signature was coming from when Ruby heard a gun fire.

* * *

Robin stared down at Ruby's unconscious form. "This is not a good idea," He told Batman.

"I agree," said Aqualad. "The last time this was attempted it did not end well."

"I'm not sure about this either," Batman told the team. "But Black Canary thought it was a good idea."

Artemis snorted. "It's a terrible idea. Black Canary has been wrong before and she's wrong now. Last time we knew it was a simulation, at least at first, and we ended up traumatized. Ruby doesn't even know."

* * *

Ruby whirled around to see Artemis dead on the ground, a bullet wound piercing her skull. She held back a scream.

Someone placed a knife at her throat. "Don't move. Or Director Corés will have to make do with just one of you."

She saw Robin get knocked out just before someone slammed the hilt of a knife on the back of her own head. She stumbled, but stayed standing. They hit her again; harder. Still she stayed up. Finally they gave up and shoved her down the hall ahead of them.

They stopped in a room full of strange equipment. A scientist with a clipboard was standing in the middle of it all. His name badge identified him as the director of project LC. Whatever that was. He frowned when they walked in.  
"I thought I told you I only wanted one of the brats?"

Ruby recognized an opportunity. "If I agree to do whatever it is you want will you let my friend go? Please, sir. I'll do whatever you say. I swear I won't disobey you." Her words carried a note of desperation. She knew these people would not hesitate to kill.

Director Corés looked amused, but he considered her offer for a bit. "That seems like a fair enough trade. Fine. I don't see why not. Take the boy back to their ship and leave him there. But have Psimon erase his memory. We can't have him bringing the Justice League here."

They thugs obeyed.

The Director had Ruby stand next to a piece of equipment with her hand on a switch. He ordered her to flip it on the count of three.

"One. Two. Three!"

She flipped the switch.

* * *

Ruby screamed and bolted upright. Robin pinned her arms to her sides before she could hit anyone.

"Ruby! Ruby, listen to me! It was just a simulation. You're safe. Calm down!"

Slowly his voice got through to her and she stopped struggling. Instead she chose to sob against his chest. When her tears dried up she looked around until she spotted Black Canary.

"You!" Her voice was shaking, she was so angry. Robin swore he could see sparks coming off of her. "That was your idea. I just watched the only people I care about die because you thought it would make a good little 'training exercise'. Screw you." Her voice changed ever so slightly and Kaldur and Robin paled at her next words. "May the very seas be your enemy, for you have my eternal enmity."

Everyone in the room flinched as they felt power flow into her curse. Ruby turned and ran off; tears once again streaming down her face. Robin ran after her. Batman followed.

Artemis turned to Canary and crossed her arms. "Nice job."


	7. Comfort

Robin pounded on Ruby's door. "Come on! Ruby, please. Let me in."

"Go away," came the muffled reply.

"No," Robin told her. "Now let us in."

The door slid open and they were greeted by her tear stained face. "What do you want?" she sniffled.

Batman ushered Robin into Ruby's room and shut the door behind them before sitting her down on her bed.  
"Talk to us. Tell us what you saw."

The whole story came tumbling out in between broken sobs, and as she spoke Batman's scowl got deeper, and darker, and scarier. But he kept himself calm for the sake of the crying teen.

When she finished he said, "Why don't you spend the weekend with Robin and my other son Jason at my home? I need to talk to Canary."

She nodded, feeling just a little better for having told someone what she saw. He stood and left the room. Robin stayed behind and let Ruby cry on his shoulder. When she dried her eyes and looked up he had his mask off.

She smiled a little through her tears. "You have very pretty eyes."

He laughed softly. "I get that a lot. So, are you coming over tomorrow?"

She wiped an arm across her eyes. "Uhuh. I'd love to. Could you hand me a tissue? They're on my nightstand."

He leaned over and got one for her as she fought back a fresh wave of tears. Without thinking he slid an arm around her waist and hugged her tighter. She relaxed just a little.

"Thanks for this. Most people would have fled the scene a long time ago."

He just smiled at her. "Now why would I do something like that?"

"You wouldn't." She returned his smile. "Because you're the best."


	8. Jason

The next morning she zetaed to Gotham and an aging man driving a limo who introduced himself as Alfred picked her up. He was very nice and she liked him from the start. As they drove he explained that he was Bruce Wayne's butler and that she would be spending the weekend at Wayne manor.

It came as a bit of a surprise, but Bruce Wayne was one of the few possibilities she had come up with for Batman's secret identity, so she wasn't caught completely off guard.

Robin, in civilian clothes and without his mask, greeted her at the front door. He gestured to her one small bag. "That all you brought?"

She shrugged. "I don't exactly have a lot of surface stuff."

For a split second something like a frown shadowed his features. Then he took her bag from her despite her protests and led the way inside. They were ambushed by a young boy the second they passed through the doors.

"Hi! Are you my brother's girlfriend? 'Cus he really likes you. You are Ruby, right?"

She bent down to his level, not noticing Robin's blush. "Yes, I'm Ruby. Are you Jason? And no, I'm not your brother's girlfriend."

"Yeah. I'm Jason. Jason Todd."

"It's nice to meet you, Jason."

Robin was shocked to see Ruby give his little brother a genuine smile. She had spent the previous day holding back tears.

He hated to interrupt, but... "Come on. I need to show you your room."

Jason looked up at him. "Is she going to live with us?"

He ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Just for this weekend."

He hefted Ruby's bag onto his shoulder and led the way upstairs. They passed Jason's room and one that she assumed was Robin's. It said Richard Grayson on the door, so she wasn't sure.

Robin stopped and opened a small door at the end of the hall. Behind it was a room painted light blue with gauzy white curtains on the bay windows. The carpet was a light tan, and there were seashells painted in various spots. All in all, it was an environment reminiscent of the underwater world she came from.

She stepped inside. "It's beautiful."

Robin couldn't help but smile at the look of awe and delight on her face. "Knew you'd like it. Bruce had it painted yesterday. I helped pick out the decorations. And squirt here," he pointed to Jason, "Picked where to put the seashells."

"Thank you. It's amazing."

"You're welcome," Bruce said from the doorway. "Richard, I want you to remember that you and Jason are supposed to spend at least an hour training today. You can show Ruby around if you'd like. Ruby, you're welcome to train with them, or, if you don't want to do that, there's plenty of other stuff to do around the Manor."

"That's alright. Training sounds nice."

He nodded. "There's a board meeting in half an hour, so I have to leave. You all behave and I'll see you at dinner."  
Bruce left and Jason pulled Robin, Richard, aside.

He he gestured furtively to Ruby. "How much does she know?"

Dick put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "I know her from my team. She is well aware of our 'extra curricular activities.'"

Jason looked up at him. "So it's okay to talk around her?"

"Yeah. It's fine."

Ruby looked up from unpacking. "You guys know I can hear you, right? I'm not deaf. Next time, Jason, take the person you want to talk to out in the hall and lower your voice."

Jason stuck out his tongue but made a mental note of that.

Ruby snorted and finished what she was doing. "What do you two want to do now?" Ruby asked.

Robin shrugged. "I was kinda thinking that we'd just get training out of the way first. No, Jason, you don't have a say in this. If you did we'd never train."

"But training's boring!" he whined.

Ruby shook her head. "Come on, I'll show you some new tricks."


	9. Glimpses Of What May Come

That day was fun, but largely uneventful. Then something happened that night that set her troubled brain whirring.  
Ruby had crashed on her bed earlier and was finally falling asleep.

Now she was wandering through a maze of sea caves filled with gems and statues. Gilded carvings abounded on the walls. It looked like a palace. Probably because that's what it was.

Ruby knew the way to the throne room. She had been there many times before. But it was always such a pleasure to simply wander and take in the beauty around her.

When she did finally get to the throne room she gave a respectful bow towards the center and got straight to the point.

"What do you want from me this time, Neptune?"

He feigned innocence. "What? Can't I check on my daughter?"

"Can? Yes. Do? No."

He smiled. "Smart as ever, little gem. I wanted to show you something. Right after you tell me how you're doing."

She hesitated. Ruby wanted to tell him she was fine, be he knew her. And she was a bad liar around him. "Not good. Not okay. Some stupid training simulation."

The voice softened and an older man with sea green eyes and a seafoam-white beard appeared to put his hands on his shoulders. "I understand."

The throne room dissolved around them to be replaced with two scenes, both featuring older versions of Jason.  
One showed him standing with a gun pointed at Batman, the Joker tied up behind him. As Ruby watched he took the gun off safety and fired.

The other showed him sitting in class at Gotham Academy High School. Ruby smiled knowingly when he glanced down at his communicator and asked to be excused.

After a moment, Ruby understood what she was seeing. Two possible futures, one happy, and one tragic. The question was, why was Neptune showing her this? She asked.

He looked down at her. "Because, you barely even know the boy yet you care about him very much. I have no wish to see the boy in such pain," he gestured to the scene with the gun, "And I know that you don't want that either, so I decided to find a way to change things. After all, the future is never set in stone. The tragedy that you see comes to pass due to jealousy. Jason is jealous of Richard's place as Bruce's favorite son. To prevent that from happening you need to convince Bruce to be a better father to Jason. And be there for them. All of them."

She nodded. "I can do that. I will do that." She swiped a hand at the pain filled scene and it disappeared. "That will not come to pass. I swear it."

Neptune chuckled. "That's my girl. Who knows, perhaps I may decide to bless young Jason. He seems like a nice boy. But enough of that. When you wake up in the morning it'll be your birthday! Or had you forgotten?"

She looked startled. "I guess I did."

"Well, what do you want?"

"You have already given me a present by showing me what to do to help Jason. The only other thing I could ask for is your wisdom in helping Robin."

"Such a selfless child. You want nothing for yourself?"

"My family, my friends, and my kingdom will always come first."

"Then I will have to come up with a gift on my own. As for your friend, fear not. I will offer him my guidance as I offer it to you. He is kin to you, and your kin is my kin. Blood related or not. Now sleep. Tomorrow is a big day."

He lifted his hands from her shoulders and everything faded to darkness.


	10. Talks

Ruby woke in the morning rested and refreshed. She stretched and saw something laying on the bed next to her. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. A lifelike seahorse sewn of cloth of gold and decorated with colorful gems. It was a bit like a toy she had loved as a little girl. Until her nursemaid insisted that she was too old for such things and took it away. This toy was fancier than her old one, which had been simple blue and red silk, but it reminded her of it and thus was something she could look to for comfort.

"Thank you, dad. It's perfect." She whispered and hugged it before setting it back down on her bed and getting up to get dressed.

She could have sworn she heard a faint "You're welcome."

She walked downstairs for breakfast, expecting it to be quiet. Instead, she received an enthusiastic greeting from Jason and Dick along with a somewhat tuneless rendition of happy birthday.

"How on Earth did you know?" she asked them.

"Well," began Dick sheepishly," We, the team, meant to hold a party for you last year, but that mission kind of got in the way."

"If I remember correctly I got sent to Atlantis to help smooth out diplomatic relations with Bialya, while you guys got stuck protecting the Sangrian prime minister. That was actually kind of fun." She looked thoughtful.

Robin grimaced. "For you maybe. Not for us. My point is, Jason and I wanted you to have an actual birthday this year."

"That's so sweet of you, but I really don't need one. Honest. I talked to my dad last night and he sent me his gift and that's all the birthday I need."

Jason looked up at her. "No it's not. You have to have more birthday than that!"

She smiled. "We don't generally celebrate birthdays in Solaria. It depends on the family. Mine never did. But my dad knew that I was always fascinated by surface customs so he took to giving me a gift every year. Most of the surface things I have are from him. I'm not used to making a big deal out of today. To me birthdays are time to spend with my dad or a close friend. That's all."

Jason shook his head vigorously. "Nope. You're getting more birthday than that. I'm gonna go talk to Bruce about something." He ran off and Ruby shifted her attention to Richard.

"So," he asked, "What did your dad get you?"

"I'll show you after breakfast."

Alfred walked in and set plates of waffles in front of them. Ruby thanked him and asked if he had any jelly. He said that he did and brought out some strawberry jam for her. She thanked him again and made a jam sandwich with her waffles.

Robin watched the entire exchange with amusement before pouring syrup on his own waffles and proceeding to eat them.

Jason walked back in, looking upset, and turned to Dick. "You're going to have to be the one to talk to Bruce. He's too busy for me." Then he walked out of the room.

Ruby heard the Manor's front door open and close. She pushed her empty plate away. "I'll go after him."

Richard started to stop her. "He'll calm down in a bit."

"He doesn't need to calm down. He needs someone to listen."

She found Jason sitting at the edge of the cliff; feet dangling over the edge.

She sat down beside him. "Stinks, doesn't it? having Bruce act like he doesn't really care. My mom was the same way. She wouldn't give me so much as the time of day. Literally. I asked one time and she told me to go talk to her assistant. She didn't even raise me. She hired a nursemaid instead. She died a couple years back and you know what? I didn't even mourn. I had only seen her a few times. She always seemed to have time for my older sister, but she never even looked at me. Not once did we make eye contact. I felt like I was never going to be good enough for her. That's the way it is with you and Bruce and Dick, isn't it?"

He looked over at her, eyes wet with tears. "Why doesn't he care? What am I doing wrong?"

She sighed and put an arm around the boy's shoulders. "That's just it, Jason. It's not you, you haven't done a thing to deserve this, it's him. Some adults are just like that. It's stupid, I know, but there's nothing you can do to fix it, because it isn't your fault. Listen to me, Jason. There is nothing wrong with you. You are an absolutely amazing person. You're the kindest, funniest, smartest boy I have ever had the good fortune to meet. If Bruce can't see that, it's his loss. But you don't need him. You have Alfred, and an older brother who loves you, and you have me. If you ever need me I'll be here. I promise."

He sniffed. "Thanks. I wish I could understand why he doesn't love me the way he loves Dick. I'm every bit as much his son as Dick is. Why does he act like I'm not?"

"I don't know, but if you want I'll ask him. Maybe he'll listen to me. He has before."

"Please." He grabbed her marked hand and examined it. "I've been meaning to ask, what is this weird looking thing on your palm? Dick has one too and he didn't until a few days ago."

"I didn't have that mark until a few days ago either."

She told him everything that had happened, from Wally throwing her into the pool to Robin's recovery. He sat enraptured by her tale, taking it all in. She finished by saying, "And that is why this whole mess is Wally's fault."

He laughed. "All that actually happened?"

"Yep. That story was one hundred percent true. Just ask your brother."

"I think I will." He stood up. "Thanks... Sis."

She laughed. "You're welcome... Bro."

They stood there for a second, smiling at each other, before heading inside and going their separate ways. Jason went to talk to Dick and Ruby went to hunt down Bruce.


	11. Equality

She found him in his study and stood in front of him for a moment before clearing her throat to get his attention. He looked up.

"Bruce, when was the last time you paid attention to Jason?"

He thought this over for a moment. "I don't remember."

"Exactly."

"I'm a very busy man," he defended.

"Yet you always have time for Richard."

"That's different."

"How?"

"I... Uh..."

"It's not. Bruce, do you realize how much you're hurting him? I found him outside crying. And when I asked him what had him so upset he asked me why you don't care."

Bruce looked shocked.

"You treat him like he's not your son. You always have time for Dick but never any for him. This has got to stop. I'm not trying to tell you how to be a father to Jason. I'm telling you to be a father to the kid. Because right now Alfred is more of a father to him than you are. Heck, even Dick is more his father than you."

"You're taking this personally."

"Of course I am. My own mother wouldn't even give me the time of day, my sister hated me, and my dad was never around. This is personal. I almost killed myself because I so sure that I would never be good enough for them. I would give anything to keep Jason from going down that path. I've seen where it ends, and it's not pretty." Ruby bowed her head.

Bruce was shocked. He hadn't even known that there was a problem. "I'll try to do better, I promise."

"Just treat Jason and Dick equally. That's all I ask."

"I will." He stood up and headed towards the kitchen with Ruby following. "When Jason came up earlier he said something about it being your birthday."

"Not a big deal. I already spoke with my father Neptune and he gave me a gift of knowledge far more valuable than anything material. Though he gave me a toy as well like always." A smile graced her lips.

"Knowledge about...?"

"The future."

"Whose future?"

"Jason's. The valuable knowledge was how to change it."

"What was it like?"

"In the glimpse I saw he was pointing a gun at someone."

Bruce fell silent. The reached their destination and on his way to get a plate of food from Alfred he ruffled Jason's hair.

Jason stared at him. "Who are you and what did you do with Bruce?"

"I replaced him with a robot," Bruce shot back over his shoulder.

Both Jason and Richard looked to Ruby for an explanation. She just smiled at them.

"He's not a robot or a clone or anything else. That is the real Bruce Wayne. I didn't mess with his mind either. I'm not even a telepath."

Bruce listened from in the kitchen and it hurt to know that things had been so bad that neither of his sons had believed it was actually him just because he had acknowledged Jason.

Alfred put a hand on his shoulder and he sighed. "I had no idea there was even a problem. I feel terrible for hurting Jason like that. He's my son. I care about him. How could I have been so blind?"

"Now that you are aware that there is a problem I know you will do everything in your power to fix it, Master Bruce."

"Yes, Alfred, I will."


	12. Departure

The entire Wayne household seemed to be determined that Ruby needed more of a birthday than just a present from her father. So they planned a surprise party.

Dick kept her busy all day by showing her his trapeze routine and helping her with her flips.

Meanwhile, Jason, Bruce, and Alfred called the team and set up the decorations.

Wally and Kaldur ended up being the only ones who could come, which was fine with Ruby since she hadn't wanted a party anyway. She had to admit that Alfred made great cake though.

She only got a couple of presents, a collapsible, titanium staff from Robin and Jason and a bracelet from Wally, but she hadn't really even wanted those so she was more than fine with it.

All in all it was a good day.

The next morning she packed up her things and prepared to leave. Bruce, Alfred, and the boys met her down by the front door. Robin was going back to the mountain with her, so that was something, at least.

Jason was extremely upset that she was leaving. He hugged her tightly and it was hard to pull him off. Ruby soothed him as best she could by repeating her promise to be there if she was ever needed.

She was just about to get into the car with Dick when Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.  
"Thank you, Ruby. You're welcome here anytime. Consider Wayne Manor your home."

She twisted around to smile gratefully up at him. "Thank you, sir. I'll do that."


	13. Sickness

Being back at the cave brought back memories of the simulation and all the lightness and joy that had filled her that weekend drained out of Ruby the moment she stepped away from the zeta beams. She greeted the Team cordially enough, but it would take a blind man not to see that something was wrong.

Ruby answered questions, but never spoke unless spoken to. She moved around only when she had to and rarely left her room. Training was, of course, an exception. She attacked Black Canary with a vengeance; giving no quarter and expecting none in return.

But perhaps the biggest problem was that she didn't eat. She trained harder than ever, but she couldn't stomach any food. She got sick if she tried and after a day or two of this she just stopped trying. She still drank water, but Robin caught her slipping salt into it. It didn't take a genius to know that salt water probably wasn't something she should be drinking.

The better part of a week went by before she finally collapsed.

She and Robin were sparring when she started getting dizzy. Ruby thought nothing of it and kept right on going, but it got progressively worse until she could barely stand.

Robin rushed to catch his friend when she fainted. He tried everything, but the others had left for the day and no matter what he did she wasn't waking up. He called Batman.

When Batman answered Robin saw that he was in civvies as well.

"Bruce, I need you back at the manor now. Ruby just fainted and I can't wake her up."

Bruce nodded. "Take her to the hospital," was what he said. But Richard knew he didn't mean it. What he really meant was, "I'll be there soon."

The call ended and Richard gathered the unnaturally light Ruby in his arms and beamed directly to the Bat-Cave.  
He took her upstairs and lay her gently down on the bed in her room. Jason ran in and froze.

"Dick, what happened? Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know, Jay. She won't wake up. We were sparring and she fainted. She hasn't been eating lately, and it finally caught up with her." He was almost shaking.

Jason was shocked by his older brother's behavior, but took charge of the situation. "You know where Bats keeps the medical equipment. We need an IV and a heart monitor up here pronto. Well? Get a move on!"

Grayson nodded and hurried off. Jason turned to the bed and grabbed Ruby's limp hand. "Hang in there, sis. Please."

Ruby's eyes were closed and her voice was so soft that Jason had to strain to hear it, but hear it he did. "It'll be okay, Jay. I promised I'd be there for you, didn't I? I can't do that if I'm dead."

"No, you can't. So please hang in there."

"I will."

Richard came back and hooked her up to the equipment with shaking hands. Jason plugged the heart monitor in as Bruce appeared in the doorway.

"Dick, what happened?" he asked.

"We were training and she collapsed. She hasn't been eating because she threw up the last few times she tried. We couldn't find anything wrong with her, though, so she just kept going with the rest of us. Since there was nothing wrong that we could find she saw no need to take time off. Not that it would have done much good."

"Has she been drinking water?"

"If you count salt water, then yes. She's been drinking lots of water lately and at first I thought that was a good thing but I caught her slipping salt into it yesterday. I'm pretty sure she's been doing it all week."

Ruby stirred on the bed. A small moan escaped her lips.

Robin looked so worried that Bruce agreed to let him spend the night in the chair beside her bed. He grabbed a blanket and kept a silent vigil through the night until exhaustion overwhelmed him and he sank into sleep.  
In his dreams Richard found himself in the throne room that Ruby had stood in only a week ago.

In front of him stood Neptune. "Welcome, boy. You are a friend of my daughter's, are you not?"

"Yes, sir." Robin wasn't sure why, but he felt the need to be respectful.

"Good. She gave you her mark." It wasn't a question. "That means she trusts you. Even if she didn't do it on purpose. She trusts you with her heart and I want to make sure you don't break it."

"I'm not sure I could. To be frank, I'm a bit more worried she'll break mine."

"She won't. Do you know what she asked for for her birthday? A way to help you. I agreed to give you guidance; you and your little brother. The question is, do you want it?"

"Do I need it?"

Neptune shrugged. "I don't know. You're the only one who can answer that."

Robin contemplated this for a minute. "Can you tell me what's wrong with Ruby?" He described what had been happening.

"She tried to cut herself off from the mark and now she's paying the price for it. I warned her that it was a bad idea." He sounded mildly annoyed. "I'll talk to her."

Robin was hurt that Ruby had tried to sever their connection. Did she not like him? Had he done something wrong.  
As if sensing his hurt and confusion Neptune laid a hand on Robin's shoulder. "She was trying to protect you, boy. She wrongly believes that the mark is compelling you to like her. It's not. The mark forges a connection, it does not remove free will. Being soul mates works both ways."

"I liked her long before I got this silly mark. Why can't she see that?"

"Ruby is... Not a trusting person. She grew up in the court in Solaria; a place that is full of lies and deception and backstabbing. She hasn't ever had any true friends, and she doesn't really know how to trust. She's trying, but... I am not sure if she will ever learn to open up." He seemed so bone weary.

"How can I help?"

"Jason brought her back from the brink. All you have to do is stay with her. And make sure she eats."

"If you don't mind my asking, why was she drinking salt water?"

He chuckled. "Because that's what she is used to. Ruby spent the first fourteen years of her life living in the ocean. She drinks salt water because she can't return to Solaria at this point in time. It reminds her of her home. Don't worry about it. It can't hurt her."

Robin blinked in surprise. Then he thanked Neptune, but turned down the offer of guidance; saying that he already had more than enough people giving him advice.

Neptune was pleased with this answer. Be he gave him one last piece of advice. "You should go swimming at least once a week. It'll make transforming hurt less."

"I don't know how to swim with a tail."

"Ruby will teach you. Just ask."

Neptune waved his hand and Robin fell into a deep, restful sleep.


	14. Guidance

Jason couldn't sleep. He was too worried. So he sneaked out of the manor and down to the water.

There was a blue-green flash and a man was standing there in front of him. "You're worried about Ruby." He didn't ask, he stated.

Jason didn't know how this man knew about all that and he didn't like this. "Who are you? How do you know about Ruby? What do you want?"

The man help up his weathered hands. "Relax, I'm a friend. I'm Ruby's father. My name is Neptune. Ruby has told me about you, Jason. You seem like a nice boy."

"Yeah. If you look past the whole Gotham street rat thing," Jason said bitterly.

Neptune shook his head. "It doesn't matter who you've been, it matters who you are and who you want to be."  
"Well I'm not a street rat now and if I have my way I never will be again."

"Then the 'Gotham street rat thing' doesn't matter."

Jason looked at him curiously. "What do you want?"

"To offer you something."

"What?"

"I like you and my daughter cares about you very much. I want to offer you my blessing."

"What's that?"

"My blessing is my approval, and with it comes guidance when needed and a gift." He held out a necklace of leather cord with a single spiraling shell dangling from it as a pendant.

Jason hesitated but eventually took it from his hand and fastened it around his neck with a knot. "Thank you, sir."

"My daughter has adopted you as a brother and I adopt you as a son, Jason Todd. Now you have two families. So long as you wear that necklace you are welcome in my realm." He gave Jason a smile. "And I imagine my daughter would welcome you into her realm as well. Have a good night, Jason. Try to get some sleep." Neptune started to walk away.

Jason opened his mouth to ask a question.

Neptune turned back towards him. "Ruby will be fine."

Ruby woke the next morning from a dark, dreamless unconsciousness in her bed at Wayne Manor with Robin in civilian clothes asleep in the chair next to her clinging to her hand with a death grip.

"Robin." She spoke as loudly as she could, but it was barely above a whisper. Besides, Robin was his name when he was in uniform, and he wasn't wearing his uniform. He was in civilian clothing. "Dick."

He jolted awake and nearly crushed her with a hug she was too weak to fight off. "Ruby! Thank God. We thought we had lost you. Never do that again!"

"I won't, I promise. Please let go. You're crushing me."

He jerked back quickly. "Sorry! Sorry."

She assured him that it was alright. "So, what did I miss?" she asked.

Jason walked in with a shell strung on a cord hanging from his neck. "Your dad."

Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up. "Oh I am so dead when he finds out what I tried to do."

Dick pushed her back down. "Don't. You're too tired."

Jason gave her a funny look. "What did you do to end up this way?"

She looked at Dick and looked away; ashamed. "I tried to sever the link."

Dick took her hand in his. "I know. And I know why. Ruby, the mark isn't making me think or feel any differently than I would without it. I cared about you long before we shook hands. I thought you knew that."

She turned back to him. "Truly?"

"Absolutely."

They sat there like that for a while before Jason cleared his throat. "I hate to interrupt, but... This is awkward."

They let go of each other's hands like they were hot stones.

Jason snorted. Absently, he reached a hand up and began rubbing his thumb in a circle on the shell. Ruby noticed.  
"Jason, where did you get the necklace?"

He looked in the eyes. "The beach late last night. There, that's where and when."

She frowned. "Who from?"

There was an extensive pause before Jason said, "Your father."

Ruby sighed in relief. "Thank God. Just so long as it wasn't Oceanus. He hates my dad and me. If the necklace had been from him you would be dead by now."

"I thought you would be mad." Jason was confused.

"But I'm not. I see no reason to be. Even my father has acknowledged that you're as much my little brother as you are Dick's."

Dick felt a smile tug gently at the corner of his mouth.

Ruby continued. "By giving you that necklace he signaled to me that he approves and has accepted you into our family. Just like the Team accepted me when I first came out of the water. It takes a weight off my shoulders knowing that, should something ever happen to myself, or Richard, or Bruce, you'll be looked after. Besides, this means that I can take you with me if I ever take your brother to see Solaria. If you want to come, that is."

"That would be so cool!" Jason grinned.

Ruby laughed, but it turned into a cough. When she quit coughing Richard and Jason left her alone to get some sleep.


	15. Timothy

A week later she was back on her feet and, at Bruce's insistence (oddly enough), her tail.

Bruce agreed with Robin when he asked her if she would teach him to swim with a tail. Ruby had been reluctant to agree, knowing that the change would be painful for him. But Batman agreed with his son and she wasn't going to go against his wishes.

Dick's swimming lessons took up a great deal of her time. She was grateful for the distraction. Shortly after she recovered she went back to spending most of her time with the Team at the mountain and, with the simulation still relatively fresh in her mind, being there with them was painful. Even though, again at Bruce's insistence, she lived at Wayne Manor now.

One day she walked into the training room at the manor and saw Dick waiting for her. He was leaning up against his trapeze equipment. When he saw her his face broke into a grin and he beckoned her over.

"What is this about?" Ruby asked.

His grin grew even wider. "Well, since you're teaching me how to swim I thought that it was only fair that I teach you how to fly."

Things settled into a routine for Ruby and the Bat family. That is, until something happened to stir up their lives once again.

The huge thing that happened was the death of Bruce's friends and neighbors the Drakes. Someone had broken into their mansion to rob them and they arrived home at an inopportune time. The burglar shot the two adults, but their seven year old son escaped his notice by hiding in a closet.

When Bruce heard about this he immediately volunteered to take the young boy, whose name was Timothy, in. Dick agreed that they couldn't let him get put in the foster care system. He had been there and knew from first hand experience that it wasn't something he would wish on anyone; least of all a defenseless seven year old boy.  
Jason wasn't so keen on the idea at first, buy Ruby explained patiently to him why this was so important to Bruce. He was willing to welcome the young boy into their home after that.

They were thrilled when the adoption papers were finally processed and they were allowed to take Tim home.  
The boy was obviously overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him, but instead of acting like a normal child he remained withdrawn and refused to speak. He also avoided physical contact and acted like he was afraid they would hit him.

Richard was the one who finally broke through to him. Jason had been being a stand-offish jerk to Tim as usual and Dick had found the child hiding in a corner of the house clutching his wrist.

"What happened?" Dick asked him. Ruby was in a different part of the house speaking with Jason about his behavior.

Timothy shook his and hugged himself tighter.

"Come on, Tim. I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."

Tim mumbled something so quickly and quietly that Dick didn't catch any of it. Then he flinched away; acting as though he expected the older boy to hit him.

Richard put a hand on his shoulder. "Speak up, please. I'm not going to hurt you."

Tim looked up hopefully. "Promise?" he whispered.

"Cross my heart."

"I fell and hurt my wrist. I was running up the stairs and I tripped. Please don't be mad. I won't do it again. I swear!"

Dick gathered the younger boy up in his arms and carried him downstairs to the living room. "Alfred!" he called. "Could you please get some elastic bandages? Timmy sprained his wrist."

He set Tim down on the sofa and took the bandages from the butler. He was gentle as he wrapped Tim's wrist and he ruffled the younger boy's hair playfully when he was done.

"There, all better."

Ruby walked up. "Jason is outside sulking off the lecture I gave him. He knows what he said to Tim was wrong. And he won't be forgetting it any time soon." Her arms were crossed and judging by the slight frown creasing her forehead whatever conversation she had had with Jason had been very one sided. She gasped when she caught sight of Timothy's wrapped wrist and pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Are you okay, little one? What happened?"

Dick thought it was sweet the way she acted like Tim was her child. "He tripped and sprained his wrist."

She looked Tim in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

He nodded shyly.

"Why won't you talk to us? We want so badly to hear your voice."

"Talking isn't allowed. I'll be punished."

Ruby sat down and pulled him onto her lap. "Oh, sweetheart, you won't get in trouble for talking. We want you to talk. We want you to smile and laugh and be happy. We love you. You're our little brother."

He looked up at her with a face that said that he expected all this to be a trick or an elaborate joke. "Really?"

Dick knelt down so that he was looking Tim in the eyes. "Really. I don't know what you're life was like before you came here, but here you can talk all you want. You can run and jump and play, though Alfred would prefer you did that outside. Jason breaks enough stuff around here without your help." He cracked a smile. "We want to see you happy. Seeing you happy makes us happy."

"Not Jason," muttered Tim.

Ruby sighed and ran the hand that wasn't holding Tim through her hair. "Jason is jealous. He's used to getting all the attention as the youngest and ever since you came we've been spending more time with you than with him."

Tim looked upset. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. As much as I love Jason, he needs to grow up and get over it. We can't all get everything we want all the time. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices because someone else needs what we have more than we do. Jason doesn't understand that. But he will. Just give him time."

"Ruby?" They turned to find Jason standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry. You're right, I was jealous of Tim. I was upset that you guys were paying so much attention to him and not giving as much to me. And you were right when you told me that he needs it more. I was just scared he was going to steal you from me. That you would become his big sister and stop being mine. I get it now."

Ruby stood up and gave Tim to Dick. Placing her fingers under Jason's chin she tilted his head so that he was looking at her. "I will never stop being your big sister. For as long as either of us live you will always have me looking out for you. But Tim needs me looking out for him too. He needs all of us. That includes you. What do you say you give him another chance? You might even like him."

She released his head and Jason nodded. "I could do that." He walked over to Tim. "Sorry I was such a jerk. You didn't deserve to be treated that way. Friends?"

Tim smiled tentatively. "Friends."


	16. Damien

Tim became remarkably close to Jason after that. So much so that he earned the nickname Little Shadow. They were, as Robin put it, "As thick as thieves." Jason became the person Tim went to when something was wrong. And Tim became the little brother Jason would protect with his life.

And when Jason became Robin after Dick had a fight with Batman Tim made him promise that he would always come home. No matter what happened.

It had been a terrible fight, though. Ruby had feared that the Bat family would fall apart, and in truth, it would have had she not expressed that fear to both Richard and Bruce. They kept things together for her sake and the whole thing blew over after Ruby convinced Bruce to take Jason as Robin and Dick to find a new superhero identity. For reasons unknown he chose Nightwing. And even Batman had to admit that his new costume looked good.

Not long after that an old acquaintance of Bruce's showed up on their doorstep... With his son. It was a big shock to them all; Bruce especially. But even though Damien was a stuck up jerk they just couldn't leave him on his own when his mother, Talia al-Ghul, abandoned him at the door of the manor after telling him that Bruce Wayne was Batman. In the middle of a rain storm of all things!

The Bat family, Ruby included, quickly realized that Damien was going to be a challenge to get along with, to say the least. And everyone handled that challenge differently. Bruce and Dick treated Damien like the ten year old child he appeared to be. But he had been raised by the League of Assassins, and mentally he was an adult. Albeit an adult that took a fiendish delight in teasing Tim. Jason was less than pleased by this behavior and made no effort to get along with Damien.

It ended up being Ruby who found the right way to handle the new arrival. When Damien mouthed off to her she turned and spoke to him the way she would an adult.

Damien smirked. "I am the heir to the League of Assassins and the only true son of Bruce Wayne. You are beneath me, peasant. You can't order me to do anything."

Ruby's face was hard, and showed no trace of emotion. "I am the Crown Princess Regalia. First circle princess of the ocean kingdom of Solaria, demigoddess daughter of Neptune, Gem of both the Atlantean and Solarian courts, and Heir to the Golden Throne. I think I outrank you, Damien. Now do as you are told."

Damien, looking stunned, obeyed and went to his room.

Dick gaped. "How did you do that?"

"I spoke his language. I outrank him and I used that rank to my advantage. You have to understand, Dick, that Damien is more an adult than a child. He was raised by assassins and he has been one himself for several years now. You want to coddle him the way you coddled Timothy. In your mind he's just another lost child. And while he is lost, he is no child. He needs love and kindness the way a child would, but he also needs to be treated like an equal."

"But he treats us like we're inferior."

"A defense mechanism. If you want Damien to listen to you then you're going to have to earn his respect. Prove to him that you have something worthwhile to say."

"Are all those titles you rattled off really yours?"

"Yes." She sighed. "I'm going to go speak with Damien. Think about what I told you."

Ruby walked off and left Dick still gaping at her turned back. "What on Earth does 'first circle' mean?"

Neptune's chuckle echoed through his mind. "Heir to the throne, boy. The most important person in the kingdom."

"She must hate that."

"You have no concept of how much my daughter deplores being coddled and fawned over. If she only hated one thing that would be it. Still, she doesn't seem to mind it from you." With that observation Neptune retreated from Nightwing's mind; leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Ruby knocked on Damien's door. "Damien, may I speak with you?"

"Enter," came the sulky reply.

She opened the door slowly and stepped inside, closing said door gently behind her. "Something is wrong. What is it?"

"I am perfectly fine, princess. I do not require your assistance. I don't need help."

"You're lonely." She frowned at his closed off expression. "I'm not leaving this room, neither of us are leaving this room, until you talk to me. And yes, you have to tell the truth."

"What do you want me to say? That I'm a weak pitiful child and my mother would be ashamed of me? There is your truth. Even father despises me. Me. His only true son."

This was going to be harder than she had thought. "You are not weak."

"I have shown emotion. I have shown weakness. How can I not be weak?"

"Damien," she scolded, "Emotion is not weakness, and denying emotion is not strength. Strength is facing that emotion head on, dealing with it when it overwhelms you, and making it out alive. Whether or not your mother is ashamed of you is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether or not you are ashamed of yourself. Are you?"

"Yes. I have spent my entire life being the strongest person around me except for my mother and grandfather. Then I came here and suddenly I find myself needing help. I suddenly need for there to be people there to show me what to do. And the people who have ended up helping me don't even like me. I have never been so ashamed in my life."

"I would say that it is normal to need help, but I have a feeling that would only make you feel worse." She curled up in a chair that she had dragged to the bedside and positioned so that it was facing him. "Because you aren't normal. So instead of attempting to reassure you I am going to tell you a story. I don't know if Dick has told you, but I'm not from around here. I don't just mean that I'm not from Gotham, I mean that I'm not from the surface world. I was born in the capital of Solaria. Its called Zenith and its located in the deepest part of the Atlantic ocean."

Somewhat against his will, Damien was captivated by her story.

"I was born to the queen's third daughter and raised to be a low ranking princess. Third circle at the most. My mother never cared for me. I was the second of three daughters and never really amounted to much besides trouble. She left me with a nursemaid and forgot about me the day I was born. Still, I wanted more than anything to make her proud. I never did. She died on my eleventh birthday. On my twelfth my father found me and the court priests along with the queen herself declared me heir to the throne. Instantly I was the center of attention. Everyone wanted to be around me. I got so many gifts that I didn't know what to do with them. I was invited to every party. And I despised it all. It was so fake. Those people only cared about my position, my standing in the court. Eventually I got so fed up that, with the queen's blessing and Neptune's approval, I left for the surface world. That was, I think, the happiest day of my life. I was finally free. No more lessons or parties or useless gifts. I could be independent; go back to being on my own. I was so confused when I got here, though. I didn't know how anything worked, or what the people were like. I didn't even speak the language. I was forced to depend on the kindness of strangers. It was humiliating. Finally I decided that I had to return to Solaria. I dove off of the cliff behind this very mansion. I should have been able to transform and swim back with no trouble, but I had been gone too long and the ocean did not want to accept me. The pain of the transformation crippled me and the sea spit me out on the shore. I'm not sure how long I would have been able to go on like that had Dick and his team not taken me in. Even then I still struggled to adapt. But it was easier because I had people who knew what they were doing to guide me. Though, for a long time I was too proud to accept that guidance. You know what finally convinced me?"

Damien was mystified. "No, what?"

"I got run over by a car." She flashed him a crooked smile and all of a sudden they were laughing. Sharing a joke like old friends.

"Getting hurt forced me to swallow my pride and admit that I didn't know what I was doing. I was so embarrassed. I was the heir to the throne of Solaria. I wasn't supposed to need help. But I did. And oh how I hated it. I gave Dick so much grief that he finally said that if I could either shut up and listen to him or leave."

"And?"

"I shut up. Where else did I have to go? I stayed and I've been a part of that team ever since. I guess my little story has two points. One, everybody needs a little help when they first enter a foreign environment. And two, family isn't just blood. Family is the people who love you and care about you and would give their own lives if it meant saving yours." Ruby sighed and shifted in her seat. "We really do care about you, you know. Despite what you think. You aren't making it easy on us, not by a long shot, but we really are trying. When push comes to shove it's your decision to make, whether or not you'll let us help you. I only hope you'll let us in before you get hurt. We want to be your family. Are you going to let us?" She stood and stretched. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes. I hope you will deign to join us."

Ruby walked out of Damien's room, leaving him to contemplate the meaning of her words.


	17. Understanding

Damien was quiet and reserved when he came down for supper that night. He was polite to Tim, he obeyed Bruce and Alfred when they told him to wash his hands, and he smiled when he greeted Richard and Ruby. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugged and smiled as innocently as he could.

Dick turned to Ruby about halfway through the meal and asked, "What did you do? And how do we get Damien back?"

"I talked to him," she informed him in between bites of soup. "Damien is behaving this way of his own volition. I have neither replaced nor reprogrammed him. You should know by now that I am capable of neither. Even if I were, I happen to like the real Damien considerably more than any fake."

She pushed her chair back and gathered her dishes. Alfred took them from her despite her customary protests that she could take care of them herself. When Alfred took the dishes from her she turned to Bruce and crossed her arms.

"I need to speak to you. Alone."

Alfred looked on in amusement as Bruce gulped and complied with Ruby's command.

Ruby dragged him up to his study and shut the door behind him. "Tell me, Bruce. Why does Damien think you hate him?"

Bruce gulped once again, thinking that her single raised eyebrow was much more intimidating than any glare, Bat or otherwise, could ever be.

"Bruce Anthony Wayne. Are you even trying to understand your son?"

"Yes!" he said defensively. "Its not exactly easy. I think I'm starting to get him and something like tonight happens and I have to start over."

"Damien was good tonight because he's too preoccupied with thinking about what I told him earlier to put up his defensive facade. The Damien you see everyday isn't the real Damien. The real Damien is scared, and hurting, and jealous of the other boys and the attention you give them. He has been tossed into an unknown world where the rules are completely different from what he grew up with. Yes, grew up. Not is growing, grew. He's not a child, Bruce. He's an adult and an equal and you need to treat him like one. Yes he needs love, and compassion, and kindness the way a child would, but regardless of his height or appearance there is a mature adult in that head of his. By treating him like the ten-year-old you want him to be you're insulting him; telling him that he's not good enough. This has got to stop. You can't protect him from the past, Bruce. Stop trying."

Her last words to him were melancholy and she gave him one last piercing look before she left the house.

Jason found her out in the garden later, near the cliff.

"Are you sure that person in there is Damien?" he joked.

She sighed and looked off into the distance.

"Earth to Ruby. Come in Ruby."

She smiled faintly and reached an arm down to hug him. "Sorry, Jason. Just... Lost in memories."

"Good ones, or bad?"

"Mostly bad."

"What brought them up?"

"Conversations with Damien and Bruce."

"About...?"

"My childhood. The court of Solaria is not a nice place to grow up. Add in the fact that my mother never wanted me and you end up with one messed up kid. Dick wonders how I always know what to say to make whatever someone is dealing with easier. In truth, I only say the things that I wish someone, anyone, would have said to me."

"Oh."

"Come on, its too nice a night for dwelling on the past. Want to go down to the beach?"

Jason's face lit up. Behind them they heard a tentative, "May I come too?"

Jason scowled, but Ruby turned to look at Damien who had come up behind them while they were talking.

"Of course."

Jason headed on down to the beach, but Damien grabbed Ruby's arm to stop her from following. "I'm... Sorry... For bringing back such terrible memories." He struggled with the word sorry, but he was sincere.

"Not your fault. I would have had to face them eventually anyway."

He released her arm and they followed Jason down to the beach.

Before she got into the water she looked Jason in the eyes and told him, "He's not stealing me from you. I promise."


	18. Patrol

They spent a few hours splashing around before Alfred called them in for patrol. They went down to the Bat-Cave and Ruby helped the boys into their uniforms before turning to head upstairs. She didn't patrol. Bruce didn't let her. He had always been reluctant to send her on missions with the rest of the team and he absolutely refused to let her patrol. It was frustrating, but she thought she understood why he did it.

But his voice was the one that stopped her from leaving tonight. "Wait." He placed a hand on her shoulder.  
She turned around to ask him why he'd stopped her.

He placed a bundle of clothing in her arms. "Suit up."

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she went to one of the spare changing rooms to do as she was told.

The uniform was new, not her usual one from her time with the Team. The color scheme was black and red with the main part of the uniform, a light, armored body-suit, in black and the accessories (utility belt, boots, domino mask, etc.) were red. The cape, which stopped just short of her knees, was red on the inside and black on the outside. The entire outfit had so many pockets and hidden pouches that she quickly lost count.

She thought that it looked decently good on her, but when she stepped out of the changing room Dick's jaw dropped.

Jason snickered and elbowed his brother in the stomach. "You're staring..."

Dick snapped his mouth shut and blushed crimson. Tim and Damien exchanged a knowing look.

Bruce nodded to Ruby. "Good, it fits. I wanted to try something different tonight. Normally we pair up and Nightwing goes alone, but tonight I thought we could try patrolling in threes. It'll probably take longer, but it should also be safer."

Ruby nodded. "Sound logic."

"That means Tim, Nightwing, you're with me."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Its Red Robin."

Bruce ignored him. "Jason, Damien, and Ruby, you three are on your own. You'll be patrolling the south side of the city. We'll take the north. Use the motorcycles to get around. Good luck. And Ruby, keep them alive."

Ruby could have sworn she heard Damien mutter, "Its Crow. I'm in costume. How many times must I remind him of this?"

She nodded before turning to the two boys. "Ready to go?"

They nodded. She beckoned and started walking. "Let's head out."

They took the motorcycles to the edge of their patrol area before dismounting and taking to the roof tops.  
What started out as a patrol quickly became a game as the two boys challenged each other to leap farther, and grapple faster, and take more and more risks. Ruby kept it from going too far, but let them have their fun.

"Ruby!" yelled Jason. "Tell Damien that I landed before he did."

"No, tell Jason that he was a second behind me," Damien said imperiously.

Ruby spotted something in an alley bellow them and pulled the boys down to the roof. "Enough, both of you," she ordered.

Jason protested loudly enough that the man Ruby spotted heard. He fired off a few shots from the gun he was carrying in their general direction and one of the bullets grazed Ruby's arm. She hissed in pain.

Damien seized a knife from his belt and leapt off the roof down into the alley. Jason helped Ruby to her feet and they followed.

Damien held a knife to the man's throat. "You will pay for shooting my sister," he hissed.

"Damien, enough." Ruby's voice rang out in the alley as she strode towards her little brother. "We need him alive."

"He hurt you!"

Jason looked at Ruby's bleeding arm. "I hate to say it, but he's right."

"I'll live. There's no need to avenge me. Besides," she turned her piercing stare to the terrified man Damien had cornered, "This nice man was just about to tell us what he's doing out at this time of night that has him so jumpy he'd fire at the slightest sound. Even without a clue as to what might be making that sound."

The man nodded eagerly, though he eyed the knife Damien now held at his side with apprehension. "Yes, ma'am. I work for Black Mask, see. And I was supposed to be making a drug deal here half an hour ago. But my customer didn't show."

"Drug dealers," Ruby spat. "I hate them. I've half a mind to turn you over to Crow here and let him do what he wants with you. But I'm supposed to stand for justice, so I suppose I'll have to settle for dropping you off at the nearest police station."

The druggie fell on his knees and started kissing her boots. "Thank you, kind lady. I'll do whatever you want so long as you keep that crazy kid away from me."

Damien caught the disgust in her eyes and hauled him up. "My name is Crow. And don't you forget it."

The dealer gulped and fell silent. Thankfully he stayed that way until he confessed to the police at the station.

Jason snorted. "How much you want to bet that his 'customer' was some poor teen who got addicted and can't quit."

Damien sighed.

Jason looked over at him. "What's up?"

"I was so close to killing that man. I enjoyed seeing the fear in his eyes when I held that knife to his throat. If you hadn't stopped me when you did, Ruby... What if one of these days I lose control and start killing every criminal I come across? Father would hate me."

"You're worried about going rouge?" Ruby asked.

Damien nodded.

"Tell you what, if you ever feel like you're starting lose control, or if you ever lose control completely give me a code word or phrase and I'll know to stop you."

"You could give it to me if you want," Jason told him.

"Why don't we all come up with one. All three of us. This can be our thing," Ruby suggested.

The boys nodded and Ruby took out a roll of cloth bandages from one of her belt pouches and wrapped it around her injured arm while she waited for them to come up with something.

"Vampire bat. I want my code phrase to be vampire bat." Damien nodded decisively.

Jason opened his mouth and said quietly, "Blazing guns."

"Ruby, are you going to make one?"

She nodded and thought about it. "I need mine to be something that can be said in combat... Shoot to kill. If I ever lose it I'll tell one of you to shoot to kill. I you hear that you'll know I need to be incapacitated at any cost."

They stood for a moment then Jason stuck his fist in the center of their little circle. "This is so cheesy," he muttered.

Damien stared at it for a moment before Ruby gently curled his hand into a fist and placed it on top of Jason's before stacking her own fist on top of that.

"Family." Her voice rang out and the boys echoed her.

"Family."

She smiled at the two who were now getting along so well. "Come on. I want to be done with patrol before morning."


	19. Difficult Decisions

_**AN: So... This chapter is basically a random plot twist that happened because I got bored. Bit of a rocky spot, but not too bad.**_

They made it back to the Bat-Cave some time around four a.m., happily reporting to the others that their patrol had been a success. They told Batman everything that had happened. With the exception of the code phrases. That was for their ears alone.

Batman agreed that Ruby would be allowed to patrol with them on a regular basis under the condition that she wait until her arm was healed. She was more than happy to help Alfred back at the Cave in the mean time.

Dick protested by saying that Batman had once tried to patrol with a broken leg before. To which Bruce replied that the key word in that sentence was tried.

Ruby just laughed and told both of them that she was fine with the arrangement Bruce had suggested. Though she pacified Dick by telling him that it was sweet of him to try to help.

She also suggested that they switch groups and/or partners weekly. When the boys protested she explained that her idea was intended to ensure that any two or three of them could work together long enough to get the others out of a tight situation.

The boys were hesitant, but Bruce agreed wholeheartedly. He told them that Ruby's plan would be implemented as soon as she was healed and patrolling with them.

Now there was just the matter of her healing.

"Richard, I'm bored." Ruby was hanging off of the edge of one of the couches in Wayne Manor's main living room. Her injured arm was bound to her side.

Upon further inspection what she had initially thought to be just a graze had turned out to be much more serious. The bullet had ripped through a part of her bicep. If she moved the arm too much she risked losing the use of it. So Bruce had bound it to her side with bandages and forbidden leaving the manor.

Jason shot Dick a look that said you get to deal with this one, and left the area.

Dick looked down at the upside-down girl on the couch and held back a laugh and a sigh. The laugh was because she was upside-down. The sigh because this was going to be a challenge to deal with, to say the least.

He never got the chance. Moments later a smoke bomb exploded right next to him and he grabbed Ruby and ran for it.

They were joined by Tim, Jason, and Damien as they ran through the gardens; weaving around shrubbery and jumping over walls.

"What's going on?" Tim asked.

"This looks like League work," Damien told him. "The League of Assassins, that is. They're most likely targeting me. Mother must want me back. If I go with them, they should leave all of you alone."

"No," Dick told him. "I won't let them take you."

They reached a clearing in the forest around the manor and Ruby stopped running to seize Damien's shoulders. "Look me in the eyes and answer one question." Her voice and posture were tense, her gaze searching. "Do you want to go back with your mother?"

"No."

She squeezed a pressure point on his shoulder and he collapsed against her. She lowered him to the ground and looked up at Dick. "I'm sorry. For what is about to transpire I apologize with all of my heart."

Talia al-Ghul stepped out of the shadows. "Give me my son."

Ruby stood and faced her defiantly. "No. He belongs with his father now. You cannot take him back. I will not allow it."

"What can you do to stop me?"

"Nothing... Except offer myself up in his stead. I am older, stronger, faster, and more experienced. And my blood is just as noble as his. Albeit, from a different line."

"You are also injured."

"One drop of salt water and it will be as though I was never so much as scratched."

"Why should I not just kill you all and take Damien back? Give me one good reason."

"He will not go willingly. I will. He will never serve you knowing that you killed those he considers family. I will serve you no matter what." Ruby place a fist over her heart and bowed. "My lady."

"Ruby, no!" Dick yelled as loudly as he could, but the two ignored him. Jason and Timothy stood frozen.

Talia looked her over and nodded approvingly. Like lightning she threw a flash grenade at Dick, Tim, and Jason who were knocked unconscious by the blinding light. She turned back to Ruby who was still bowing. "Come. I have what I came for." She strode off into the shadows with Ruby on her heels.


	20. Realizations

Nightwing woke up in the Bat-Cave some time later. Tim was standing over him.

"Dick, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Tim. I'm fine. Where's Ruby?"

Damien stepped into his line of sight. "Gone. She left with my mother."

Dick shot upright. "Talia al-Ghul has her? We have to save her."

Jason looked at him funny. "I don't think you quite get it, golden boy. She left _with_ Talia. As in she went willingly. She bowed to her and everything."

Damien looked guilty. "This is my fault. She was attempting to protect me, so instead of allowing me to return to the League of Assassins with my mother she offered to take my place. Mother must have accepted her offer."

"I don't care whose fault it is so long as we get Ruby back," Dick told him sternly.

Tim looked worn and sad. "That's the thing, Dick. We're not sure we can."

"We'll find a way." Dick looked and sounded calm, but Tim was the only one who bought it. Jason gave his older brother a knowing look before escorting Tim upstairs for hot chocolate and sleep.

Damien stayed. "Why do you bother acting when your act is so utterly unconvincing?"

"Maybe because I have to keep it together for Tim's sake. Maybe I just think that if I pretend that things are okay then they will be. What does it matter to you?" That last part came out harsher than he would have liked.

Damien was unaffected by his tone, however. "Ruby explained to me once, about a week after I arrived here, how people who shared no blood relation could be a family. She said that family was anyone you would give your life for. I didn't understand at the time. I do now. I have even come to see you as my... Brother. " Damien hesitantly wrapped his arms around Dick in an awkward gesture that surprised Dick. "I believe you call this a 'hug', yes?"

Dick overcame his shock enough to hug back. "Yeah, that's right."

Damien pulled away after a little bit and glared up at Dick. "If word of this reaches the others I will slit your throat while you sleep."

Dick snorted. "They'd never believe me if I tried to tell them."


	21. Adjustments

Ruby followed Talia patiently through the halls of her stronghold. She had been shown the set of rooms she would be staying in, the dining room, and the gardens right after a bowl of sea water had been brought and her injured arm healed. Now Talia was showing her the training room.

Pointing to some training dummies on one side of the room, Talia told her, "We'll start you out on those. I am aware that you have combat training and experience, but you aren't used to killing and that will have to change."

"Yes, Lady."

Talia called for one of her lackeys and he brought her throwing knives on a pillow. She scooped them up in one hand. "We'll start with survival." flicking her wrist she sent the knives sailing through the air towards the silent girl.

Ruby bent gracefully to the side and let three out of four slip past her. The last one, she caught and with a flick of her wrist sent it arrowing towards the lackey.

He wasn't fast enough, and went down with a knife through his heart and shock on his face.

Talia mentally reassessed the girl before her. Ruby hadn't even flinched at the sight of blood. She obviously had experience killing. Perhaps she would be better than Damien.

Talia reached into a pocket in her dress that Ruby hadn't noticed before and pulled out several shuriken. Tossing them to Ruby she ordered that Ruby show her how she would kill the dummies standing along the wall if those were the only weapons at her disposal.

Her creativity astounded Talia. In just seconds each of the dummies had "died" in a different way. And she still had one throwing star left. Walking over to Talia, she bowed and held it out to her.

Talia accepted it with caution. "That is enough for now. Return to your chambers. A servant will bring you to the dining room when it is time for supper. You are dismissed."

"Yes, my Lady." Ruby left the training room and retraced her steps to get back to her room. Once inside she sat at the desk that stood off to the side and began writing an letter to the family she had left behind. Mainly to Damien and Jason. Once finished, Ruby whispered a plea to her father, begging him to deliver it. Knowing that she could not. He granted her request and she thanked him fervently before cleaning up.

With that task finished she stood and went to the closet to change for supper, knowing from her years at court that it was expected.

Her first thought upon opening the closet was that even for assassins the al-Ghuls had an unhealthy obsession with black. Her second was that she hadn't known that there could be so much variety in a closet filled with nothing but black. She had to admit, she was mildly impressed.

In the end, she chose a simple black dress. Not particularly fancy, but not totally casual either. She noticed that it contained hidden pockets for weapons.

A knock sounded on her door and she admitted a servant who informed Ruby that he was there to take her to the dining room for the evening meal.

Ruby followed him and sat in the chair he pulled out for her, noting that she was early. Talia hadn't expected her to know to change clothes. Good. The more she showed that she was not to be underestimated, the better.

When Ra's al-Ghul entered behind his daughter Ruby's curiosity was piqued. She had thought that she was to be Talia's pet project. Not something that Ra's would ever be interested in.

Ruby stood and bowed. "I was not expecting you, my lord."

Ras looked at her calculatingly. "When my daughter told me she had taken a willing protégé I was intrigued. I never thought that a member of Batman's family could so easily change sides."

"In the court of Solaria an ability to make and break alliances is necessary for survival. Especially considering that a civil war only recently concluded. As heir to the throne I had to be sure to support the winning side, whichever side that was at the time. A similar principle applies here," Ruby said smoothly.

Ras looked impressed. "Then you are no stranger to intrigue."

"No, my lord."

Talia looked on with interest. It seemed her father and her new protégé would get along well. "I asked father to oversee your training tomorrow."

"I am honored, my Lady."

Ras clapped his hands and servants brought out food and pulled out his and Talia's chairs. Ruby waited until her masters were seated to sit herself.

The meal was well made, consisting of soup, salad, seafood, and cheesecake. Talia and Ras discussed contracts and strategies. Ruby remained silent unless spoken to directly. At the end of the meal Talia dismissed Ruby.  
"You may return to your chambers. I will have someone fetch in the morning for training."

"Of course. If I may be so bold, my Lady? I would prefer to be called Onyx."

Talia nodded and the newly dubbed Onyx left the room.


	22. Letters From The Lost

Jason couldn't sleep that night. The whole situation with Ruby had him worried and confused. She had promised she would always be there, so where was she now?

Around three in the morning he took a walk down on the beach at the base of the cliff behind Wayne Manor.  
His shell glowed blue for a moment and Neptune appeared behind him.

"You're worried about her."

Jason jumped. "Don't do that!" he snapped.

Neptune held out several sheets of paper covered in writing. "She wanted me to give you these. She wrote one to each of you and the one on top is for all of you to read together."

Jason took the papers and looked down at Ruby's meticulously neat handwriting. "Thanks."

Neptune put a hand on his shoulder to get Jason to look him in the eye. "My advice? If you can't sleep, go swimming. It'll make you feel better. Trust me on this. And pass that bit of advice along to your older brother. It will help him too."

"Thanks again. I had better get back inside."

Neptune watched him go and whispered, "Goodnight, Jason. Sleep without dreams. I wish I could prevent what will soon come to pass, but the fates have decreed it and there is nothing I can do. Sleep well, my son. Sleep well while you can."

He melted away, leaving no trace of his existence behind.

Jason dashed inside and woke everyone up. Once they were all gathered in the living room, even Bruce, he passed out the letters. After everyone had theirs he read the one addressed to all of them out loud.

_My family,_

_To you it must appear that I have changed sides. You must feel betrayed and upset and I can never apologize enough for hurting you like this. In truth, I had not planned anything like this. It was a spur of the moment decision made to save Damien. I could not let my little brother be hurt by those he still calls family. No, you are not allowed to blame him. The choice was my own. I wish there was something I could say to make it all better, but the facts are that the next time we see each other we will not be on the same side._

_There is a purpose to this letter beyond apologizing, however, and that is to explain. When you next see me I will neither speak nor act the way in which you are accustomed. There is a simple, if not particularly logical, explanation for this. The person in my head is no longer, well, me. Her name is Onyx, and she is, essentially, my dark side. The person I become when I let my power take control. When it became known that my father is Neptune, doubtless you wondered why I never used the power I surely had. This is why. The sea has two sides, gentle and ruthless, and unfortunately so do I. Its not a part of myself that I like, but in this case it may be what keeps me alive._

_Regardless, when we meet again do not hold back. Onyx will not hesitate to kill. Someday I may come back to you, but for now stay on your guard._

_Loving always,_

_Ruby_

_Jason lowered the letter and looked at the expressions on the faces of his family. Dick and Tim were shocked, and Tim looked close to tears. Damien was resolute. And Bruce's face was, as usual, expressionless._

Jason set the letter down and left the room. He went outside and climbed a tree. It was what he did when it felt like things were crashing down. Like when Ruby almost died. "& $#&%, Ruby. Why'd you have to leave?" He looked down at the now crumpled note in his hand. The one meant just for him. Almost reverently he smoothed it out against his leg, opened it up, and began to read.

_Jason,_

_Oh how you must hate me right now. And I'm okay with that. Not just because I deserve it, but because I will accept the thought of you hating me over the thought of you hurting because I'm gone any day of the week. Of the year, really._

_For now, though, I need you to put feelings aside and listen to me. I have something really important to tell you. Remember how I never told you what my dad gave me for my birthday? Well I'm going to tell you now._

_He gave me knowledge, Jason. Knowledge of the future. Your future. I saw you attempt to kill Batman as revenge for his refusal to kill the Joker, even though the Joker had killed you. You were alive in the future I saw, so my best guess is that someone brought you back._

_I vowed to never let what I saw come to pass. I care about you. To see you in so much pain hurt me._

_Then, three nights ago, father showed me a future where Damien was killed by his mother. Her design, if not her hand. I care about him, just as I care about you. (To be honest, though, I love you just a little bit more. Don't tell.) Because Damien is my family too, I couldn't let what I saw happen. So I intervened._

_Do you understand now why I left?_

_I wish there had been a better solution. Something, anything, else that I could have done. But there wasn't._  
_The contents of this note are for your eyes alone. If you want someone else to know what I said, then please, just tell them. But I'm begging you to keep this note to yourself. I would never have allowed myself to speak this freely if there was a possibility that someone other than you might read this._

_I know this has been hard for you, Jason. I'm sorry. (I really can't say that enough.) Chin up, Jay-Bird. You'll make it out of this. I'll make sure of it if it's the last thing I do._

_Your sister forever and always,_

_Ruby_

Jason hastily dashed away the tears and crumpled the note, sticking it in his pocket. "No one will see, Ruby. I promise."

Ruby's notes to Bruce and Alfred were generic apologies. Tim's note assured him that no matter how crazy she got she would always love him as if he were her own child. Dick's note contained a short and to the point confession that she actually did like him as far more than just a friend or family member, no matter how she had denied it. She told him that she wouldn't want to share her mark with anyone else.

It was Damien's note that stuck out. It read:

_Dami,_

_I know how much you hate soppy stuff, so I'm not even going to try._

_I hate to admit it, mini-bat, but I'm scared right now. You know why. You know how the League works. So far, though, I seem to be keeping Talia and Ra's happy. I think I impressed Talia in training today, but I'm sure you could do better._

_Dang it, Damien. How did you deal with all this? The only way I can manage, the only way I can be who they want me to be, is to let my power, and by extension my dark side, take over. When we next meet it will be on the field of battle, and my name will be Onyx._

_Bruce would have my head for this, but I want you to follow your training. Not the training you got from us, the training you got from the League. Shoot to kill, Dami, shoot to kill. For all your sakes._

_Regretfully,_

_Onyx_

Damien bowed his head over the piece of paper, understanding that the young woman he respected, even viewed as a sister, was gone.


	23. Misfortune

_**AN: I Like Ra's al Ghul a lot. He is by far the smartest of all the villains. I do not, however, like Talia. This chapter, and the rest of the story, reflects that. I softened Ra's somewhat, but I did try to stay true to his personality. I will wait till tomorrow to post more after this. I'm tired. So thank you for reading and goodnight.**_

Three days later they were gathered in the cave discussing the problem of Onyx when a voice from the shadows piped up:

"Aw, how sweet. You do think of me."

A flash grenade landed in their midst and only Jason and Damien managed to avoid being knocked out by the violent flare of blinding light. Seconds later, Damien was dropped by the same nerve pinch Ruby had used just before she left with Talia.

Jason was on his guard. "Come out, Ruby."

She stepped into the light; her all black uniform somewhat unsettling on the normally bright and cheerful girl. "Didn't you hear? It's Onyx now."

"Still a fragile gemstone," he quipped.

She gave him a shark-like grin. "I think you'll find that some gems aren't so easy to scratch. Go ahead, try to hit me."

Jason complied, striking out with a clenched fist. She caught his clumsy strike and tossed him down.

"Come now, you can do better than that. Shoot to kill, Jason. Isn't that what you've always wanted to do?"  
He growled and charged her.

Damien watched the fight from the corners of his eyes as he looked around for some weapon he could use to take Onyx down. Permanently. His searching halted as his gaze fell upon a syringe of an unknown toxin that Scarecrow had attempted to inject Bruce with three nights ago. With the problem of Onyx and a breakout at Arkham they hadn't got around to doing anything with it yet. Moving with as much stealth as was humanly possible he snatched it up and closed in on Onyx from behind.

Jason watched as Damien snuck up behind Onyx and jabbed the needle into her neck. She stiffened, then calmly reached up and removed it. "Well done, Damien. I am now officially blind."

All three of them froze when the sound of clapping echoed through the cavern. "Well done," Ra's said loudly. "Both of you, well done."

Onyx bowed in the direction of his voice. "Master. I would ask why you are here, but I believe I already know."  
Ra's raised an eyebrow. "Really? Tell me, then, why am I here?"

"To test my loyalty. To assess my skill outside the training room. You were watching the entire fight. It's the logical conclusion."

"You have correctly guessed only half of motives. I am also here to check on my grandson. I am more than pleased to see that he has not gone soft during his time here."

Damien bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you, grandfather."

Talia stepped out of the shadows and crossed her arms, standing at Ra's' shoulder. "Now it is time for you to return to the Shadows with us. Come, Onyx, Damien."

Ra's held up a hand. "They will not be accompanying us, Talia. Damien has made his choice. He wishes to stay with his father, and I will honor that. Onyx does not belong with us. She clearly does not want to remain in the League and I will not let you force her. But," and this he said to Damien and Onyx, not Talia, "I would have it known that should either of you ever change your minds you have a home with us in the League. You have earned the titles of prince and princess of the Shadows. The League will not harm you or your family. My soldiers are at your command, provided you do not attempt to use them to interfere with my plans."

Ruby bowed again. "Thank you, my lord. You are more than kind."

Damien looked utterly stunned by his grandfather's acceptance of him. "Thank you," he said.

Talia did not look pleased. She bent over and whispered something to the shadows as Ra's spoke. One shadow detached itself from the others and snuck around behind Jason, unnoticed by anyone else. There was a faint gleam of steel, then a sharp gasp as Jason crumpled to the floor. Onyx whipped around toward the noise, drawing a throwing star from her belt. Aiming by sound she threw it where she approximated the assassin's throat to be. It struck true and the ninja fell without a sound, save the thud of his dead body hitting the floor.  
Ra's was furious. He ordered Talia back to her plane and called for a second ride for himself so that he would not have to go with her. He had told Damien and Onyx, who was kneeling over Jason's body, calmly checking for a pulse, that their family would not be harmed and his daughter had broken that promise almost as soon as he had made it. Damien seemed to be shaking with rage, and had his mother not already left Ra's suspected he would have attacked her. Ra's turned to his grandson and the young woman he was coming to view as a granddaughter with little of his usual emotionless calm.

"My daughter's actions were uncalled for. I assure you she will be punished."

"Jason is dead!" Damien snapped. "No punishment can change that."

"Damien," Onyx warned softly.

He relaxed slightly.

Ra's nodded in agreement with the boy. "That is true. But there is something that can."

Damien looked startled. "You would dip him in the Pit?"

"Jason obviously means very much to both of you, and I long ago promised the Detective that I would not kill his family. This is a disgrace and I will do all that is within my power to rectify the situation."

"You have my eternal gratitude, my lord."

Ra's had one of his servants lift Jason's body from her arms and she stood. "I am not your master any longer, Onyx. Come, we must get young Jason to the Pit as quickly as possible."

Onyx turned to Damien and put a hand on his shoulder, fumbling a bit without her sight, but getting it there all the same. "I need you to stay here. No, don't argue. Someone has to explain what happened, and they won't listen to me right now, especially not if you and Jason are missing. And Jason will need someone by his side when he comes out of the pit. You know he trusts me more than he trusts you. Besides, it would not be wise for you to be that close to your mother until she has cooled off. I will visit often once the toxin has worn off and my vision has returned."

"Do you promise?"

"I swear it."

"Very well. I shall stay."

"Thank you, Damien." She turned to Ra's. "Let us go."

Ra's nodded. Onyx followed him out to his helicopter with the ninja carrying Jason's body close behind. They got in and the copter took off.

Damien looked around him at the mess the Batcave was in and sighed. _"First to wake father, Richard, and Drake,"_ he though resignedly. _"Then to explain what just happened. The mess can wait."_


	24. ANRant

Lets get a few thing straight. I do not care if you like this story. I do not care if you like OCs. I especially do not care if think this is cliche. You can grow up and get over it instead of sending me nasty reviews. I don't care if people read this, anon, so don't go telling me to "post something else because nobody cares about OCs." This is posted for my entertainment, not to be your punching bag. I am sick and tired of getting hateful comments from people who are afraid to even give themselves a name; instead hiding behind the safety of anonymity. You are not allowed to tell me what I should and should not write. I put a lot of work into making sure that this particular OC is not just a Mary Sue. Believe me, those annoy me just as much as they annoy you. This has been a rant by Delphi. Please note that in future all flames will be used to salt and burn your body. Consider this your only warning. Have a nice night.


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